Sarah Palin—Feminist or Victim of Sexism?

The Republican right, in all its glory, is going bonkers over a Newsweek cover with what some call a highly unflattering picture of their fearless leader, Gov. Sarah Palin.

Despite countless magazine pictures and covers with similarly unflattering pix of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama (and his wife, Michelle), this one, they whine, shows too many wrinkles and too much unsightly facial hair and was taken from too close an angle. Apparently you've got to see one in person to get the full effect.

Meanwhile, Reuters ran some pictures of Palin that truly are tasteless and deserve more attention than the volumes of blogosphere venom spewed on the Newsweek cover. Taken through Palin's legs and from behind her, they make it appear that male members of the audience are peering right up her skirt. Now that's deserving of conservative alarm.

Don't take my word for it—take a look for yourself.

Meanwhile, a gadfly president of a local chapter of the National Organization for Women endorsed Palin this week at a rally in California. Shelly Mandell even said, in reference to Palin, "This is what a feminist looks like."

Let's not go there. Palin has called herself a feminist (in her now infamous interview with CBS's Katie Couric), and every American gets to choose his or her own labels, no matter how inappropriate they may be. Feminist is not the first word I would link with Palin. Lipstick and pit bull are much higher up on the list.